Hole in one

Andy Waterman
Jul 28, 2017 · 2 min read

We lost my father three days before his 64th birthday. He had retired five weeks earlier and he and my mother were slowly reacquainting themselves with each other.

She was a mischievous woman back then and even now, you sometimes see the old glint in her eye.

As she tells it, she had suggested to they should play a game of hide and seek. She said she would remain in the kitchen, where she had a cake cooling on a wire rack, while he went to hide.

My father was never much of the imagination, so she expected to find him in his usual hiding place, very quickly.

Alas, when she looked in the nook behind the bath in the visitor’s bathroom, there were no 63 year old recent retirees to be found.

She looked in the wardrobe, with no joy.

She looked in the shed, but found nothing.

She knelt down to look beneath the sofa, and was stumped.

There were no old men in the house.

She called me, 200 miles away.

“Have you seen your father?” she said.

“How long has he been missing?” I said.

“About 40 minutes”, she said.

I told her she should keep looking, but not to worry.

“He’ll soon get bored when he realises that the cake has cooled”

She said and I agreed, hopeful that she would call me later to inform me he was found.

Alas It was not to be.

That night he was still missing.

The next night he was still missing, and my mother called the police.

A day after that I arrived in town and went to visit his old colleagues who were at a loss.

“That’s very out of character” said one.

“He never played hide and seek at work,” said another.

We visited pubs, crazy golf courses, hospitals and a used car dealership but he was nowhere to be found.

After six weeks my mother gave up hope and began proceedings to have him declared dead which was heartbreaking for all of us but especially my mother, who felt that by suggesting that game of hide and seek, we – my siblings and I – held her responsible for his passing.

Andy Waterman

Written by

London based copywriter, dad and runner. Insta: watermandy

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